My D Blog Week ~ #5 ~ Well, Actually...

"Oh, wow, that pump has gotten so much smaller."

     **Well, actually, that's her CGM.  It monitors her blood sugar.  Her pump is still the same size as it's always been.**

"It must be so nice for her not to have to poke her finger to check her blood sugar now that she has the CGM."

     **Well, actually, she still has to test her blood sugar by poking her finger about ten times a day.  The CGM actually tests interstitial fluid glucose and although it's pretty spot on most of the time, it doesn't take the place of a 'real' blood sugar.**

"Now that she's had diabetes for so long, you must have her blood sugar under control by now."

     **Well, actually, there are a lot of unknown factors that can't be accounted for that can send her blood sugar low or high without warning.  Growth spurts, stress, excitement, sickness, which way the wind is blowing (OK, not really, but it sure seems that way sometimes!!).  We're doing better keeping her numbers closer to her range, but there are still days that we just can't seem to figure out what the hell is going on.**

"Now that she's had diabetes for so long, you must be able to sleep through the night instead of having to check her overnight."

     **Well, actually, I still check her at least once in the middle of the night to make sure she's not going too high or too low.  How many times depends on what her bedtime number was, if the correction is working or not, if her activity level during the day is affecting her, etc.  It's worth keeping her alive for me not to have a full night's sleep.**  (yes, I've actually gotten to the point where my answer about night checks includes the fact that it could, indeed, SAVE HER LIFE.)

"Oh, she must have Juvenal Diabetes since she's a child.  That's nice, since she'll grow out of it."

     **Well, actually, it's call Type 1 Diabetes now because not only children can be diagnosed with it AND since it's an autoimmune disease that has killed part of her pancreas, she'll never out grow it."

"She's been running high all morning?  Oh, my, I thought she was getting better.  What are you going to do?"

     **Well, actually, there's lots of reasons she could be running high.  Some days are better than others.  I'm going to do what I always do...correct her, change her pod if need be, and have her drink lots of water.**

Just a few of the random 'they don't know because they don't live it' questions and comments I've gotten in the past almost two years.  Ah, good times!